INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Anyone else's chickens molting? I've got a couple of lt brown leghorns that look awful! And out of 26 laying hens I got 5 eggs yesterday

hopefully I will keep a few laying through winter since I keep picking up new egg customers!

Ugh, yes several. Eggs are way down here too.

Morning everyone! I got all of my youngsters sorted last night. 9 obvious roosters that will go for processing October 30th. I wouldn't be surprised if another few late bloomers showed up. 9 roosters out of 28 youngsters seems like way too good a female ratio to me! The Bielie mix roos could be processed now at 15 weeks. They are HUGE. The others are still a bit small. I am hoping they hit a growth spurt in the next 6 weeks!

Work has been insane, I volunteered for a super intense project in a bid to get some attention and a possible promotion. It is going well but is keeping me super busy and the stress level is high. I am also prepping to put down the old horse in the next couple of weeks. I have one more vet appointment on Friday to see if there is anything I missed or anything else to try. I am sad and stressed about that as well. I hate having to make that decision. He is 28 years old.

Hope everyone is well!

Wow sounds busy for you! I am terribly sorry about your horse, thats a rough thing to go through.

I need help sexing 2 of my silkies. I hatched them from eggs I got from @kabhyper1 back in April so they are now almost 24 weeks old. I keep going back and forth because they have decent sized combs, but big round puff balls and they are of good size.

So should it be Jethro and Tony, or Ziva and Zoe?



I'm really confused on this one because they have not started laying eggs or crowing yet?

Well I'm no silkie expert but I see no waddles and commonly if they were Roos they would have good sized waddles by now

@kabhyper1 silkies are show quality, they won't have waddles. Her birds are bearded. Hopefully she can have a look and see if they are boys or girls. Honestly, both look hen to me, but I am not a good judge. @bradselig may be able to help also.

 

[daskhan]

Never owned a silkies so I was guessing because other chickens tend to have wattles... So silkies don't hmm how do you tell male from female other then crow/egg laying?

 

[chick rookie]

Never owned a silkies so I was guessing because other chickens tend to have wattles... So silkies don't hmm how do you tell male from female other then crow/egg laying?

It's really kind of hard for me too, I look at the tail, if they have ribbon like feathers ( don't know how else to describe them ) then they are Roos. And the hear feathers look more like a mo hawk, where the hen is more rounded and no ribbons in the tail.

@chickiebaby1 the top one looks to be a roo and the other looks to be hen to me. but like I said to @daskhan Its always hard for me to tell for sure.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Never owned a silkies so I was guessing because other chickens tend to have wattles... So silkies don't hmm how do you tell male from female other then crow/egg laying?

There are several other breeds that won't have waddles typically also. Silkies are a bit harder, usually the fellas have "streamer" type feathers in the tails and crest, longer necks, are a bit taller. Easter eggers often do not have waddles either, I breed toward beards and muffs in mine. This was Bunny, my first EE hen, you can see her beard and muffs in the pic. ETA if you click the picture it will zoom in nicely for a better look.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Huey taking her littles outside for the first time. I stood guard, alllll the other waterfowl just had to come and see what the peeping was!

The new egg stash. Looks like at least 11 Midget white eggs. And a really unhappy hen giving me the death stare!

Last month, am pretty sure its the same sneaky hen. I need to band these girls!


New clutch, going to let her hatch this group.

 

[wheezy50]

I need help sexing 2 of my silkies. I hatched them from eggs I got from @kabhyper1 back in April so they are now almost 24 weeks old. I keep going back and forth because they have decent sized combs, but big round puff balls and they are of good size. So should it be Jethro and Tony, or Ziva and Zoe? https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/
type/61/id/7071234/width/350/height/700/flags/LL Sorry but to me they both look like boys. The top picture has a comb starting to show and looks to me like streamer feathers coming in on the head. His crest looks more scraggly or boyish to me. The bottom pic looks like boy 100% to me. He has a much larger comb showing on top the beak. I too have some silkies growing out that came from @Kabhyper this past spring. Mine hatched in May I believe. It appears to me that I ended up with 3 girls and a boy. I'm really confused on this one because they have not started laying eggs or crowing yet?

 

[ellymayRans]

I need help sexing 2 of my silkies. I hatched them from eggs I got from @kabhyper1 back in April so they are now almost 24 weeks old. I keep going back and forth because they have decent sized combs, but big round puff balls and they are of good size. So should it be Jethro and Tony, or Ziva and Zoe? I'm really confused on this one because they have not started laying eggs or crowing yet?

I would have to agree both look to be boys. The top pic though is iffy. I wouldn't expect to be able to see It's eyes still if it were a girl from Kab not to mention so much color on it.?? My best guess. Most silkies will take almost a year before they start laying. They will crow before that though if boys. Probably within a month or 2 depending on it's competition.

 

[pginsber]

Morning everyone! I got all of my youngsters sorted last night. 9 obvious roosters that will go for processing October 30th. I wouldn't be surprised if another few late bloomers showed up. 9 roosters out of 28 youngsters seems like way too good a female ratio to me! The Bielie mix roos could be processed now at 15 weeks. They are HUGE. The others are still a bit small. I am hoping they hit a growth spurt in the next 6 weeks!

Work has been insane, I volunteered for a super intense project in a bid to get some attention and a possible promotion. It is going well but is keeping me super busy and the stress level is high. I am also prepping to put down the old horse in the next couple of weeks. I have one more vet appointment on Friday to see if there is anything I missed or anything else to try. I am sad and stressed about that as well. I hate having to make that decision. He is 28 years old.

Hope everyone is well!

Will this be your first processing?
Sorry to hear about your tough decision with your horse.

Fingers crossed about your work project!

Anyone else's chickens molting? I've got a couple of lt brown leghorns that look awful! And out of 26 laying hens I got 5 eggs yesterday

hopefully I will keep a few laying through winter since I keep picking up new egg customers!

We've been thinking of going into the pillow business instead of the egg business. We have 8 laying hens and are only getting 1 egg a day. There are feathers all over the coop and run, though...kind of looks like a chicken exploded somewhere.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

Here's a question for those of you who take credit cards for payment. I remember a while back Brad & several others talked about it, but I don't have hours available to search for that conversation! I'm not very familiar at all with what's out there, etc. I've heard of the Square thing. Wondered if anyone has actually used it or something else, how it works, do you like using it, etc. I don't need it for my chicken stuff, but I'd be interested in having some way for customers to pay during craft bazaar season. I had a number of people ask me if I took credit cards last year and lost some sales because they didn't have enough cash!

 

[ChickCrazed]

Will this be your first processing?
Sorry to hear about your tough decision with your horse.

Fingers crossed about your work project!


We've been thinking of going into the pillow business instead of the egg business. We have 8 laying hens and are only getting 1 egg a day. There are feathers all over the coop and run, though...kind of looks like a chicken exploded somewhere.

Yes, my first processing. I have an appointment in colfax to have it done for me. I have naked chickens everywhere as well. I'm still getting one egg a day from someone......and the freaking Hedemora is broody again over that one egg. I am prying her angry self off of it every freaking day. She is on the list to get processed as well..... I can't deal with perpetual broodiness.